


Not What He Seems

by unfunnyJester



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Age Difference, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4959043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfunnyJester/pseuds/unfunnyJester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Pine twins, age sixteen, ride the bus to Gravity Falls, at least one of them thinks that it will be long and boring summer. How wrong... What is about to happen will change everything. Not a single thing will ever be the same. Welcome to the crazy Mystery Shack and meet its one and only staff. Make yourselves a guest, for all monsters and chaos are about to ensue!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Gravity Falls!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just before anyone dive in, I want to warn you that english is not my main language. Also, I don't have beta. So be prepared for at least some mistakes. I did my best and tried to correct them all but... Yeah, just be advised.

            Rain was quite relentless that day; its heavy droplets drummed against tin roof of the bus. Even though it was a day, the sky was dark as night, covered with black, storm clouds. Vehicle was almost empty; beside the driver there was only a few people inside and they didn't even fill one tenth of seats. There was a man nervously holding his suitcase; some old lady petting very disgruntled cat; bored girl in the front, with headphones in her ears and book in the hands; and two more teenagers seated in last row. They were about age of fifteen or sixteen and looked much alike - brown hair and eyes, same pale skin complexion and similar, somewhat chubby face. Although, there were some differences. He was taller, by nearly a head. Her hair was neatly arranged in a long braid to the hip, while his was messy-looking, reaching up to the neck. Bang was hiding his forehead, occasionally falling onto his eyes and his face was beginning to develop some stubble. Their attitude was also quite contrasting - girl was very excited, she was almost jumping in her seat with joy, while boy was more reserved, even gloomy.

            'Way to start holidays...', he thought, looking out the window. Right now they were driving through the forest as dark and bleak as the weather. It was their parents idea, to send them away from all civilisation, and he was still little mad at them. They didn't even ask for opinion, just thrown them in the bus, and shipped away to their grandfather's brother? Whom he and his twin sister never met? And for the whole holidays? Not that he would have better things to do, beside reading or playing video games. But still, they didn't know ANYONE there, place was in the middle of nowhere... Boy sighed heavily, which drew attention of the girl.

            "Dippy, why you so grumpy? Turn that frown aaaarouuuund! It's gonna be fabulous! Fresh start and all!", she said, throwing her arms in the air, almost hitting him in the face. "Uh, sorry 'bout that."

            "No harm done", he assured her, and smiled lightly. She was always able to cheer him up like that, even when he felt that no one can help him. They had each other for a long time and their twin bond became pretty much unbreakable. She was for him when he felt lonely and miserable, and he was for her when others laughed at her or played another cruel prank. They didn't have much friends back at home. And even those few that stuck around, were more his sister buddies, than his. Maybe she was hyperactive and at times too cheerful, but that attitude earned her more, than standoffish and distrustful of his. Than it struck him. Maybe she was - in her crazy way - right?  It was still a middle of nowhere, and they didn't know anyone there, but that went both ways. Nobody knew them. So maybe there was a plus side? Maybe he could try to be more pleasant? Try to make some friends? Spend some good time there?

           "Aaaaand that's so muuuuuch better", cheered his sister. He didn't realise, that he too began grinning. "See, even rain has stopped!"

            And indeed, nature seemed to stop her watery assault and splashing sounds were no more. As few rays of sun beamed through clouds, surroundings instantly became more enjoyable and when they drove near sign "Welcome to Gravity Falls", he thought that this may be not that bad of vacations...

***

            Bus stopped near the house, which seemed more like overgrown shack, nailed together be someone with no building skill. Or maybe that was because of all clumsy repairs on the outside. Two teenagers stepped down the stairs and took their baggage, handed to them by the driver. When the bus departed, they made their way towards the building. Despite her previous attitude, girl was a bit taken aback, same with the boy. That was not something they expected, when they heard about museum run down by their relative. Place was kinda a mess, big sign "Mystery Shack", placed on the roof had some letters hanging askew, weather vane screeched with every move and some more signs encouraged to buy some souvenirs with words like "Buy second, get nothing free" or "Bus tickets with Mystery Shack logo for twice a price!". Used to bland, almost same looking houses in her hometown, girl fell in love at the first sight. This house had a character to it, and she loved it.

            "Oh, you are already here, my new slav-, I mean, kiddos", greeted them old man, exiting the door with large sign "Gift" over them and approaching them with big smile. He was dressed in black suit, white dress shirt, red bowtie and brown boots. Fez rested on his head, same color as his bowtie. His outfit was completed by glasses, with a bit thickened top part of black outline and eight ball cane.

            After short, but rather funny introduction (including rather poorly executed impersonation of magician - which out of the blue ended with one of the letters from the roof falling onto the ground and then the same "magician" tripping on a goat), they walked towards the house. Siblings entered into what seemed to be some kind of a gift shop. It was full of trinkets, which the majority of could be immediately classified as "useless crap". Funny hats, snow globes, keychains, postcards, plastic figures of clearly fake monsters, et cetera, et cetera.

            "Dipper, look, they even have eyes! EYES! How cool is that, bro-bro?, said his fascinated sister, clearly oblivious to what that items really were.

            "Eh, Mabel, it's all crap in here", admitted openly Stan. "It's just to snatch some of this sweet, sweet bucks from all this walking wallets who fall into my trap."

            After he locked the doors, Stan leaded youngsters through "Employees only" door, into living room. Decorations were one of the strangest that twins ever saw. Just in front of them, against the wall, was some type of cabinet, upper part of which was occupied by fish tank but without actual fish. And on top of it, lied two shrunken heads. Below, on the floor, and near yellow armchair, was standing giant skull, most probably fake, serving as small table. Space on the opposite site of the seat was filled with yet another cabinet, this time a small one, like the nightstand type; lamp on its surface. Hanging over that was some kind of glass light in shape of a house. Floor was partly covered by beige, plush carpet. When twins went deeper into room, they also noticed old TV encased in wood, in front of armchair and recess with table, few chair and big lamp hovering over. Walls were made mostly out of the stone, and partly covered by coming off wallpaper; hanging on them were strange miniature flag and neon sign consisting of letter H.

            Dipper had mixed feelings. At first, this seemed just as hotchpotch of items just slapped together in one place, but at second glance, one could feel specific kind of atmosphere hovering in the air. His sister already loved this place from the outside and one could tell why. It already started to rub even on him. However, he had no time to analyze it more, because Stan moved swiftly through and past the doors on their right, opposite of recess and near armchair. With his sister proceeding after their householder he had no choice but to follow.

            They moved up the stairs and down the corridor. Dipper hands were going numb from carrying two big bags and hiking bag on his back. Of course, most of this stuff belonged to Mabel, whom took half of her wardrobe. She offered to carry as much as her brother, but he refused, trying to be manly. Fortunately, journey came to the end, when Stan stopped near one of the rooms.

            "That will do", he proclaimed, with a subtle touch of sentiment in his voice. "It wasn't used in years and became a little cramped with all this stuff randomly thrown in here, so you will need to move it elsewhere and clean up, kids, but there is definitely two beds and wardrobes"

            "We are not exactly kids, Stan", cut in Dipper. He was a bit annoyed, being constantly reminded of his young age. He always wanted to be older, to finally be an adult, to leave behind all this immature children laughing at him because he was smarter than them. Sometime ago he foolishly thought that in highschool things will be better, but not. It was still all the same, he was still sneered upon for just being clever. Often, he wished they would just all disappear. All other students. Besides Mabel. She was his sister.

            "Listen, kiddo, I'm so much older than you, that I have the right to call you however I like", replied Stan, glaring at Dipper, with unknown expression filling his eyes. "Also, you really want to be all grown up, huh? It's not all bed of roses and such, believe me when i say that"

            It seemed that Dipper hitted a raw nerve with his comment. He wanted to apologise, but then Mabel came into play.

           "Don't worry 'bout him, Grunkle Stan, he just got off on the wrong foot, it happens to him from time to time", she said, smiling widely. She slipped into the room and started dancing around, trying to touch and feel everything.

            "Woah, she's energetic one, I see", spoke surprised man, watching as she started rolling on the floor and simultaneously coughing, because of all the dust. "Wait, grunkle? What does it even mean?"

            "Mabel has the tendency to come up with new words. If I would have to guess, it's combination of uncle and grandfather, pretty accurate in this case", explained Dipper, also smiling lightly. "And I'm sorry, Grunkle, I didn't mean to upset you"

            "Don't worry, kid, it's nothing, just... Just live your youth fully, 'kay?", said Stan, scraping his back, and looking the other way. "If you need me, I will be downstairs. It's time off for me, after all"

***

            It took them most of the afternoon to move all of the clutter to the storage downstairs. Emptying the room was quite some work, especially that some things were too heavy or too large for just the two of them, and they needed to be clever about shifting them around. After close call on the stairs, Stan told them to catch a breath and get something to eat. They gladly agreed to take a break, being quite hungry after all the lifting.

            Meal was surprisingly tasty. Dipper thought to himself that probably with all the years of living alone in the middle of the forest, even if the town was fairly close, old man had no choice but to learn some cooking. And it seemed that Stan was pleased to see Mabel and Dipper enjoying the food, even if he was trying to grumble, that this was for the rest of the week, and now he would need to do the shopping.

            "Let's get it over with, I'm dead beat", said Dipper, lifting a bit too many boxes from the corner of the room, attempting to finish the job already, as they were the last ones left. After the dinner, they came back upstairs to finish cleanup. Mabel was already lying on the bed with her face burrowed in pillows. She already dusted and vacuumed room and made the beds.

            He made his way towards the doors, balancing wobbly stack of boxes. One on the top slid and fell on the floor scattering its content all over the place. Dipper sighted and said to his sister:

            "Can you pick all of that up and put back in the box? I will be back in one sec"

            Without additional ballast, tower he created became more stable, and without further problems, he placed them down in the storage room. When he returned, he noticed that while Mabel had mostly done what he asked for, she was also sitting on the bed with some kind of book in her hands.

            "Mabes, it's rude to snoop around other people stuff", he said, standing over her. "What's that?"

            "It's an old album", she replied, opening it. "Aren't you a little curious how Stan looked, when he was young?"

            She began going through the photos, and Dipper joined her, his curiosity overcoming his respect for privacy. Pictures started with some couple. Despite them being black-and-white, twins were able to notice that there were some similarities between them and people on the photo. They figured out, that they were most probably looking at their great-grandparents. Even the thought of that excited them, as they didn't know much about them, same with their grandparents. Nobody ever talked about them that much, beside that they were dead. Mabel flipped few pages, going through images presenting marriage and pregnancy. She stopped at picture of two newborns.

            "Dip, do you think that Grunkle Stan and our grandpa were also twins?", she asked, very excited.

            "It's probable", answered Dipper. And as the matter of fact, he was right.

            Next came photos of the twins and their parents, progressing in age. Some were missing, like if someone took them away. Gaps in time became bigger and bigger, and suddenly woman stopped appearing. And that was not the only change. Once happy family, now looked sad.

            "She died?", asked Mabel quietly. This was clearly affecting her, despite her carefree persona, she was very emotional. Dipper wondered if it was wise to keep going, but she didn't stop. She kept going, watching the silent story of the old album. Page flipped one after another, drama happening in front of their own eyes. Even Dipper felt sad, looking at the father, who changed into a broken man. He appeared in less and less pictures, always trying to keep up a good face. Photos became scarce, some pages contained just one or two, and near the end of the book, they ended.

            The last photo wasn't even a photo. It was a weathered clipping from "Gravity Falls Gossiper, with the unreadable title. Few words from the article, which Dipper was able to read, send chills down his spine. "Missing". "Presumed dead". "Pines family". He looked at the photo. It presented one of the twins and his father, both in deep sorrow, desperately clasping their hands and dressed in black suits. Now he could say with certainty, that it was Stan's family. Here, he was in his twenties, but his face features were just like the older version of him.

            "Oh no...", whispered Mabel, trembling. He knew what to do. To hug her tightly and gently stroke the hair. He felt tears soaking his T-shirt.

            "Thanks, Dip", she said after a while, still sobbing a little.

            "No problem, sis, I'm here for you", he replied, patting her on the back. When she calmed herself, and declared that she was alright, he loosen the hug. She pulled away and said that she would like to be alone for the while, so he grabbed album, put it in the box, and carried it outside.

            Now, after what he saw, Dipper understood what Stan tried to tell him. There is no point in rushing yourself into adulthood, you have to enjoy every little moment of your life. Full of thoughts, he didn't even notice, when he left the storage and returned upstairs. When he entered the room, Mabel was already sleeping, in all of her clothes. He covered her with the blanket, letting her sleep.

            Later, when he was in bed and was on the verge of falling asleep, one last thought crossed his mind.

            On all the photos, the house was different from Mystery Shack, and yet, on the clipping, they were standing in front of it. Why was that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This - or rather previous version of this story was created a while ago. Since it just took up a space I decided to post it, even though I knew there were some mistakes. Feel free to pester me with all the mistakes, it's great learning exercise, same as even writing this.
> 
> I want to dedicate this story to a person who not only got me into Gravity Falls, but also encouraged me to write more, and eventually to post it here. Yes, I'm talking about you, VeeChaos, don't hide :P
> 
> I'll appreciate any review.
> 
> Next time: Chapter 2, The Bee, The Snowflake and The Tome
> 
> unfunnyJester out!


	2. The Bee, The Snowflake and The Tome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, it's me again with a not so new chapter. That one was also collecting dust in the corner of my hard drive, so after a bit of an upgrade I decided to post it. Next one isn't finished yet, so if you are interested, you will have to wait. Sorry!  
> Thanks to comment on last chapter (you guy have one strange name tho), I paid more attention to "a", "an" and "the".

            The next morning came way too quickly for Dipper. He was dreaming a particularly nice dream, when it suddenly came to an end. He sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He had no idea why was he woken up. Well, at least he wasn't the only one to be deprived of a good summer sleep-in - as he yawned and looked around he noticed that Stan was shaking Mabel trying to wake her up. Unfortunately for him, she was no easy target for such action. Going early to the school was always a good morning fun with her.

            She only mumbled "Go away, earthquake, I will hug you later" and turned her back on Stan. That surprised the old man, who not really sure what to do, only blinked in the response. If Dipper wasn't so drowsy, he would probably even chuckle at that random sentence, it being so Mabel-like. Stan slowly turned his head towards him, eyeing him like he knew what was going on the inside of his great-nephew mind.

            "Kid, you have five minutes to wake her, or else...", he stopped for a second, looking for an appropriate threat "Or else you will face consequences!"

            And that said, clearly happy with himself, he left the room. Dipper reached for his watch, lying on the nightstand, and groaned looking at the dial. It was only eight o'clock! Why Stan had to torture them like that? He let a big sigh out and ran the hand through his hair, messing it even more than it already was. Mabel was still sleeping, snoring softly; he had to do something about it, and he knew just a thing.

            "Sugar", he simply said. And like if it was a magic word, his sister's whole body jolted upwards, her eyes opening widely, and the mouth starting to water. If he would compare it to something, it would be a dead rising from a grave, ready to devour brains in great numbers.

            "Where?!", was what she first spoke. Confused by the sudden awakening, she started inspecting her surroundings, only to stop when she spotted her brother. "Oh hai, Dip! What's up? And why is it so early?"

            It was always a mystery to Dipper, how exactly she was able to tell a quite precise time of a day, just by... being Mabel. She didn't depend on either a light level nor a sun position; it was if she just knew it an instant she wished for. Although, that was pretty useful skill sometimes.

            "It seems that Grunkle didn't inform us of our new timetable", he grumbled.

            "Don't be like that, Dippy, we have more time to enjoy the day! Oh man, why I am still in my clothes? Feeling stinky, bleh. Dibs on the bathroom!", she blabbed with the speed of a machine gun. And she was gone just as fast. With close to no time to react, Dipper just accepted the outcome. Yawning like crazy, he got up and made his way towards the window. He hoped that the fresh air will help him to overcome that numbness nesting in his brain.

            This day was already much better than the previous one, speaking in the terms of the weather. There was no cloud in sight; the sky was like in folders advertising exotic holidays, almost dripping with a dark azure; the air felt so pure, that he couldn't help, but to breath it all in; and the sound... A silent, calming rustle of trees, swinging slightly with a light breeze; strange, exotic melodies created by birds, singing happily while flying by; metallic moans of a rusted, long not oiled weather vane; hell, even the creaking planks were like a finest symphony to Dipper's ears. Grown accustomed to the constant, irritating noises of a civilisation, he felt almost ecstatic with this new experience.

            Of course, it wasn't like he was never out of town. It was just his first time, when he focused so much on reception of this incentives. He simply never had time - nor desire - to stop and merely see, merely hear... Not with Mabel around, he didn't think that she got the patience needed to stop and focus that much.

            "You can go now!", cheered his sister. He jumped, startled. He didn't notice when she entered the room. "Hey, did I interrupt your meditation or something, bro? Didn't know you were in that kind of stuff."

            "No, no, I was just thinking", he replied, shaking his head. Slowly, he got up from the bench, which served a purpose of a windowsill. He didn't recall when he sat down, he had to be so enchanted that he didn't even notice. He grabbed first clothes that fell into his hands and marched to the bathroom, ready to prepare himself for what seemed to be a long day to come.

***

            A dozen or so minutes have passed, until he joined the rest of the family downstairs in the kitchen. Mabel was already halfway through her breakfast, eating in her usual style - by stuffing as much food as humanly possible into her mouth and swallowing it all in one go. Stan wasn't bothered - he was probably just ignoring it - and was reading the newspaper, Gravity Falls Gossiper. Dipper instantly recognized the name from the clipping he and Mabel saw the previous day, but knew better than to ask. After all, it wasn't his business, and they shouldn't even know about it in the first place. So he just sat on the chair, ruffled his wet hair once more and began to eat his portion.

            Although quite reluctant at first - he could swear that something was just not right with his scrambled eggs, the meal was actually quite tasty. He even considered asking for seconds, but scratched the idea, when Stan started explaining him and Mabel, what was expected from them during the summer. The days full of relaxation and laziness were no more, instead they were to work in the Mystery Shack. Nevertheless, Dipper didn't mind it. He wasn't the one to enjoy too much of unoccupied time, all things considered. Despite the fact that Mabel was no couch potato either, she didn't look to happy. She was a free spirit, unable to rest in the one place, unless exhausted physically or mentally. Preferably, both.

            But she didn't say a thing, letting Stan to continue his explanation about their soon to be, new responsibilities. It turned out that even if it looked as they had a lot to do, in fact they had a lot of free time on their hands. Mabel was thrilled, surely imagining all the adventures that would happen to her. Dipper would rather call it "all the trouble", but as long she was happy, he was okay with it.

            After the breakfast, Stan took them to the Gift Shop. He wanted to show them around, apparently because "someone has to keep this gold mine running before that slacker decides to show up". Of course, twins had no idea who he talked about, since Stan never told them about any other employees; Dipper previously  assumed that the old man was running this place just by himself.

            "Oh, I think that he is already here", Dipper interrupted Stan's instruction, pointing at someone approaching the building. It was a man, definitely more on heavy side, shaped like a pear. He seemed nice; teenager didn't know why, but the aura coming from the stranger made him trust the guy.

            "He?", asked somewhat surprised Stan, turning his head to look at the upcoming person. "Nah, it's just Soos"

            "Just Soos" opened the door and came inside, wiping away the sweat on his forehead. It looked like he was an employee too, aside from someone mentioned by Stan, because he was wearing on of the T-shirts with Mystery Shack logo, pair of screwdrivers and the hammer were peeking from a pocket of his khaki cargo shorts and his baseball cap were smeared with some kind of oily grease.

            "Sup, Mr. Pines. And you guys", introduced himself the newcomer.

            "Hi! I'm Mabel", cheered the girl.

`           "And I'm Dipper, her brother. And you are Soos, the handy-man, right?", inquired Dipper with sly smile.

            "Wow, dude, totally I am!", confirmed the  amazed man. "How did you know?"

            As Dipper explained, he couldn't help but cheer even more. Yeah, maybe he was a bit of a show-off, but it worked, right? That wasn't that hard anyway. During his "everything-is-a-lie-lizards-from-space-are-coming" phase, and even after that, he read a lot of old detective books and watched a lot of movies and TV series. Sherwalk Wolmes, Heracles Poirot, agent Wolf Molder - they were his heroes (especially the last one, but he would never admit it now, when he grown out of conspiracy theories). And he picked a lot of skills during the way.

            "That's so cool, dude, like, totally awesome!", enthused Soos.

            "Yeah, yeah, all good, but now get to work, that beaver won't fix itself", interrupted Stan, baffling Dipper with that sentence. How one was supposed to fix the beaver? And even better question, why was it in need of repairment to begin with? Animals - not only beavers - don't tend to break, they rather injure themselves.

            Few seconds later, Dipper almost died in embarrassment, when he realised that they were talking about stuffed animal. God, what was he thinking?

            "I'm on it", Soos simply assured his boss, "See you later guys! You're cool!"

            Soon after that, arrived the first wave of gullible tourists and Stan went to get his outfit, leaving the siblings in charge of the shop. Dipper sat on a chair behind the counter, leaning back and doing some more thinking. That was indeed a strange day, and that was only the beginning. After a while he gave up and started inspecting the room much more closely than the day before. But he didn't notice anything more besides all the junk for sale, which he already saw. However, Mabel caught his attention. She was pacing nervously, as if there was something on her chest.

            "What's wrong, Mabes?", he asked her, concerned.

            "I was thinking", she started slowly, still walking, "About yesterday. You know, the album."

            "Yes, and?"

            "I feel bad. It had to be hard on Grunkle Stan. Also, we kinda violated his privacy a bit."

            Her cheeks were red, and she was embarrassed by her previous actions. Dipper wanted to say that this was her own fault - she wished to check the album out - but he decided not to. That would not really help. And would be a jerk move, really. "We couldn't know beforehand", he told her instead. "Don't blame yourself. I did that either."

            "But still..."

            "Whatever happened, happened. We will be more careful next time, sis."

            She ran towards him, leaned over the counter and hugged him tightly. Little puzzled at first, he returned the hug. It looked like that what they discovered hit Mabel really hard - even more than he anticipated.

            "Thanks, Dip. You always know what to say", she said. He just patted her on the back, feeling a little uncomfortable with the situation.

            His mind floated away again, towards the past. It wasn't the first time, that he had to comfort Mabel, it happened from time to time, when even she couldn't take all the emotions bubbling inside her; though that was perhaps the most intense one. Usually he was the one to be cheered up, needing the closeness of another human body, even if he didn't want to admit that. His friends - his, not Mabel's - were so few and far between, that he could go to the Moon and meet only the single one of them. And he wouldn't call them friends. It would suggest that he trusted them. They were... acquaintances.

            But it wasn't always like that, he wasn't always distrustful and withdrawn when it came to the other people. He was forged like that, by a lot of people. Some made bigger input than others. He didn't care that much now. There was only one person who he couldn't forgive.

            "Ummm... Hey, guys?", someone spoke. Mabel jumped and quickly broke the hug. "I chose a bad moment, didn't I?"

            "Nah, it's okay. I'm Mabel", she just snapped her fingers at the whole ambiguous situation, joining her brother side behind the counter. "We are relatives of Grunkle Stan".

            "Oh, right. I'm Wendy. And you are?", newcomer directed at Dipper. But he was a bit speechless for the moment.

            In front of his eyes, stood a girl. And not just a typical, plain girl, she was... one and only. He never saw someone that good looking in a jade plaid shirt; fit tight, emphasizing the gentle curves of her body. Same with jeans, highlighting her slim legs and full hips. Even the muddied over-sized rain boots just added to her irresistible charm.

            "Bro?", pressured Mabel, with the glint of amusement in her eyes.

            "Oh, yeah, me", he cleared his throat, "I'm Dipper."

            "So, you work here now?", asked Wendy, sitting on the counter.

            "It... appears so", he replied. Man, wasn't he behaving like an idiot? And it was going so good with that Soos guy...

            Yet he couldn't help but gaze into her eyes, helplessly absorbed by the look of her pupils - electric sparks flowing through the field of freshly cut grass, with a bit darker, emerald like rim. Gleaming sun reminded him of a light, trapped inside a precious jewel, reflecting in unforeseen ways. Despite all the energy flowing inside them, on the outside they seemed as if she just got out of a bed, adding a hint of seduction to the, how perfect, mix.

            "Cool", she said happily, getting up and preparing to leave. "If Stan asks you, I was never there, okay?"

            "Ah, there you are, you lazybones! Finally decided to show up, eh?", grunted the old man himself, opening the doors just in front of Wendy. What followed, was a stream of tourists, eager to empty their pockets of money and fill the bags with trinkets without any actual use (well, maybe except the clothing, you could wear it, if you were brave enough). Girl and her boss started arguing, presumably about her late arrival, while Dipper had his hands full as a cashier.

            "Diiippeeer...", chimed Mabel in a joyous and gleeful manner, right into his ear.

            "Not now, I'm busy", he dismissed her. He knew what she was about to say, and it was not what he was really looking forward to hear.

            "You like her!", she squeaked, excited for brother.

            "No, I don't", he responded firmly and without hesitation.

            "Don't lie to yourself, broseph! I can see how you look at her!"

            Well, there it was. Mabel's never-ending crusade to find him a girlfriend. She always had a "master plan", as the "professional matchmaker". And she couldn't take a simple no as an answer, it had to be constantly hammered into her. She couldn't understand that he simply didn't want to be with anyone. Not anymore.

            "Stop it, Mabes. You won't accomplish anything."

            "You like her - admit it!"

            But before he retorted, someone rescued him from this highly unwanted conversation. Stan called him, possibly with some new task to assign. "I win", mouthed boy to his sister.

***

 _"I didn't win. At all"_ , thought Dipper in the retrospect. Not only he felt like a freaking babysitter ("Don't take your eye from her, she has to work, not laze around!")- even though she was about his age, maybe one year younger or so - he was also an escort of not so shabby looking girl. To say at least. In fact, he couldn't get his eyes of her even if he wanted. And it made him feel uneasy.

            But every time he looked at her, he noticed something else, something even more astonishing. The way in which her long hair was streaming in the light breeze, like the wildfire; her tender skin, white as porcelain; the subtle ears, covered a bit by some curls; little, upturned nose with few scattered freckles, same as cheeks; petite, but how lovably lips, how adorably creating dimples when she was smiling...

            He shook his head fiercely, no, he couldn't succumb to his stupid hormones. They were just a weakness ready to be exploited, like a gun pointing at his temple, safety switch off. He had to remain calm and overcome this unwelcomed desires, don't hand the gun over. Not like the last time - he had learned his lessons well. However, easier said than done, especially when she was so close to him, walking such gracefully, but yet firmly, with that slender legs of hers...

            "Boooring", he heard the girl sigh, "Say, where are you from?"

            "Piedmont", he tried to put her off, but to no avail.

            "Boy, aren't you quiet dude", she commented, "Say a bit more, I'm curious, man, never been outside this hellhole."

            "It's in California. It's not that big of the city, but we are totally surrounded by Oakland. So it's just like we are one big city", he guessed he had no other choice, but to engage into the conversation. That wouldn't hurt, would it? Of course, not because he enjoyed her voice or anything. He was set on ignoring his primal desires after all. "I have to say that I already like it more here."

            "Why?", she was taken aback.

            "It's calm here. Lot of woods", he explained, "Guess I like peace and quiet."

            He stopped - the path through the forest, one they were following from the Mystery Shack, connected to a bigger asphalt road. Few more steps, and they were out of the woods, on a bit of the elevation. There he could see almost all of the Gravity Falls.

Dipper didn't see a lot of smaller cities, but if he had to guess, Gravity Falls was not a typical one. Shape of town was highly irregular - it looked like everybody build where they pleased. And how they pleased, judging by the fact that every building was different from another. Most of them consisted mainly of bungalows and detached houses. Bigger houses were few and far between - biggest one had to be a town hall and a nearby bank. Shops and other public facilities were mixed with the houses, but most of them tended to be closer to the centre. And the thing was, that so called center was closer to the border of the town that to actual centre. From the point he and Wendy were standing, they were pretty close to it.

            "Welcome to Gravity Falls, for reals", smiled Wendy, as they were headed towards the grocery store. "Still don't grasping the idea of liking this place, you know?"

            "Piedmont is nice and all, but just too noisy. And plain."

            "Man, my dad is lumberjack. I live in a freakin' cabin. In the middle of the forest", she threw her hands in the air, annoyed by the very thought of it. "I have to walk for half an hour to just get to town, you know? I would totally trade places with you!"

            "It can't be that bad, can it?"

            She just looked at him and sighted with resignation. "If not for Mr. Pines, I would probably have to go on some stupid lumberjack trip with my dad and all three of my younger brothers."

            They continued to walk in silence. Dipper was slightly annoyed with himself, for having a little too good fun chatting with her. Does he really needed to remind himself constantly that people could not be trusted? Why the hell he told her so much? But then again, maybe Mabel was right and he should consider to get himself acquainted with someone else than Mabel friends. _"Gah, so many choices! And no quickload button."_ , he thought.

            All of the sudden, a blonde girl crossed their path. She looked like a typical big city girl, or at least she tried to pretend to be the one. Honestly, she reminded Dipper of home, and not in the pleasant way. All her clothes were up to the newest fashion trend and Dipper didn't pay them much attention - they just didn't catch his eyes, too plain, too boring. Some may called her pretty, but he thought she was just fake. And not only because of her clothing - no, the way she stood, mimicry and make-up also almost screamed that.

            "Well well, what do we have here?", she sneered. But even that was unnatural and maybe even slightly forced? He couldn’t say for sure. "If it's not the biggest tomboy of Gravity Falls! What are you doing in MY town, you eyesore?"

            Wendy just slightly flinched, but didn't respond and just tried to walk past the girl, with implacable look on her face. But she had her path blocked again. She deflated a bit, stopped and waited.

            "Where are you going, freak? Go run to your shed in the woods!", said the blonde girl, crossing hands, as two of her friends joined her. One of them looked almost the same as their leader, while other fixed her eyes on the road.

            At first, Dipper didn't want to interfere, hoping that redhead would deal with the problem herself. He didn't want any trouble, not when it was his first day in town. But he had his triggers. And "freak" was one of them.

            "And look who is talking", he suddenly snapped and laughed coldly, walking past Wendy and facing the blonde. He felt his blood boiling. People like her -  no, _trash_ \- made his life a hell once. She stepped back. "Didn't know they were throwing out old mannequins."

            "D-don't you k-know w-w-who I am?", she uttered, frightened. Two girls behind her already backed off - as easily as they joined her - and now she was last one standing.

            "I don't care.", his voice freezing as an ice.

            "I'm P-p-pacifica Northwest!", she visibly shrunk.

            "I mean it", he hissed and stepped forward, shortening distance between them. "I honestly don't care a slightest bit."

            The girl was now trembling with fear, finally dropping her mask.

            "And now, run away and don't bother her again", he leaned over her and whispered right into her ear, "Or I will wake sure that trash stays where it belong."

            Pacifica fell on the ground, and backed up on all her fours, before she picked herself up and hurried away, screaming something about payback and her dad.

            "Dude, that was awesome!", enthused Wendy, "But also bit frightening."

            "I... I will do the shopping at the butcher."

            "No probs, I'll just go to the grocer and meet you here later, 'kay?"

            Dipper nodded and departed quickly. He needed to be alone for a moment. Do a little tete a tete with his thoughts. Make clear of his recent actions.

            Seriously, what was wrong with him? He just... snapped. Badly. He still felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins, and the rage wasn't going away either. Why was he acting like that? That was so out of character for him. And why he couldn't stop thinking about all of this? He needed to calm down and chill for a bit. Maybe then he would come up with some kind of solution to his problems. Yeah, instead of acting rash, let's take it slow, like he should do in the first place.

            But on the other hand, what was there to take it slow? It could be just something about that blonde girl. Or that he didn't have enough sleep. Or he was in bad mood, which could be connected to the prior. Or maybe it wasn't something really that new? He experienced similar emotions previously. There once was time when he got so angry at one kid, harassing Mabel that he almost made that kid piss himself.

            Still, he got to control himself better. And stop thinking about Wendy. It was better that way.

            He sighted, looking at his watch. Man, that was only half past eleven and look at what kind of mess he got himself into.

***

            Luckily for Dipper, the concluding part of the shopping trip was rather uneventful. They finished the list of things that Stan wanted them to buy in good time, all thanks to redhead, who was familiar with this city's crazy layout. If not for her, Dipper would be completely lost.

            They spend the way back in silence, even bigger than back in the city, after Dipper lost control and scared that girl almost to death. Wendy wanted to start a conversation at first but failed. And she didn't try again - she seemed to respect that he didn't really want to talk, which he was grateful of. They arrived to the Mystery Shack just as Stan finished emptying pockets of another wave of tourists. Dipper wondered what they even seen in all of this? This place screamed "HEY I WANT TO SUCK YOU DRY OF YOUR MONEY IF YOU ARE STUPID ENOUGH TO FELL FOR THIS OBVIOUS SCAM". Nevertheless, Grunkle had his hands full of cash and was grinning widely, inviting his victims again. And, what’s even worse, they could be back again. People were really stupid, sometimes.

            If Dipper thought that it was all for today, he was very wrong. He had another job to do. Stupid and unnecessary task. Fool's errand, if you will. And no amount of good arguments appeared to convince Stan of it. So, Dipper just went to do it. What, you may ask, clearly curious? Well, his great uncle idea was to set up some indicators pointing to Mystery Shack near the unused and taken back by nature trail through the forest's oldest part. Boy thought that was ridiculous; exactly how many lost tourists Stan hoped would stumble upon a guidepost directing to the Mystery Shack, while traversing through the most savage - as Wendy told them, when old man bestowed his great nephew pile of plywood boards, paint and brush - part of woods, where even her dad didn't really want to venture into?

            But Stan was tenacious. So now, Dipper was forcing his way through dense bushes and bending down under branches. The place was, indeed, overtaken by nature. And, to be honest, was giving him the creeps. The sudden rustling and movement seen just out of corner of his eye was unsettling.

            Fortunately, he was about to finish his job, with only few makeshift signs left. He reached for the next one, placed it firmly on the tree, grabbed a nail and swung hammer.

            CLINK!

            Dipper flinched in surprise. That was definitely NOT the sound that any self-respecting tree of good, courteous conduct should make. No, really not. And that was curious. Boy dropped everything and examined what he previously thought to be a form of nature. But it was man-made and appeared to be some kind of hidden compartment with a strange control station, consisting of only one button and few levers.

            Press or not to press? His more rational part of his mind (and much bigger) told him to not to, while other part encouraged him to do it. " _Well, it looks old, it probably doesn't even work_ ", he thought to himself, reaching to press the button. The urge was too strong.

            At first, nothing happened. Then, he heard series of mechanical clicks and a sound of moving parts. And at last, something opening behind him. He turned to discover that part of the hill was missing, and instead there was a gaping hole. He approached it cautiously and looked inside. There was some kind of book on the bottom, covered in the dust and cobwebs. Dipper reached for it.

            The cover was pleasant in touch - one swipe and puff and it looked a lot cleaner. It was made out of a brown leather, damaged a bit, with corners protected by metal pieces painted gold. On the front, there was a six-fingered hand made of the same material as corners, with a big black three on the palm of the hand. Reversing the book, he discovered that the back was covered by strange symbols. He could swear that he seen them somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where.

            Dipper opened the book on the first page. First thing he noticed was a sticked page with “Property of” written on it. Unfortunately, the bottom part was torn out. He flipped the page and found a monocle attached to book’s spine. He shrugged and read:

            _“June 18,_

_It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon._

_In all my travels, never have I observed so many curious things! Gravity Falls is indeed a geographical oddity.”_

            It looked like it was someone’s journal. He glanced at next few pages. The were almost calligraphed, and margins were filled with various sketches. Paper was damaged, sometimes whole pages were torn out. Suddenly, manner of writing changed. Dipper tried to decipher madman scribblings:

            _“First pages are farce. Uhhh, to the untrained beginner's eye they may seem to contain relevant information. I can assure you it's not the case. For you see, this is all gibberish. Pure nonsense, if you wish. In fact, none of my sample writing is of any significance. I rarely dot my I's and T's, punctuation has alone taken a bind next to pure theatre. It is indeed a long lost stunt. Please enjoy. Please enjoy the irrelevant and incomprehensible rambling seen.”_

            Next followed descriptions of strange monsters, items and phenomenons, alternated with text like “THEY ARE HIDING SOMETHING”, “TRUST NO ONE” or “RETURN THE BOOK, GODDAMNIT”. Well, at first it looked serious, but then turned into a joke. Elaborate kind of joke, but a joke nonetheless. At first Dipper wanted to put the book back, but than decided that he could study it back home. Maybe there was something to it after all?

            So he put it inside his vest’s pocket, grabbed the hammer and the rest of nails and headed back to the Mystery Shack. A thought crossed his mind - should he cover up what he found? Maybe better not, if he ever needed to go back here, it would be hard to rediscover.

            It was definitely past the lunch time when he arrived at his new home. He opened door to the gift shop and stepped heavily inside. He was exhausted from breaking through the forest.

            “Man, you alright? You’re bleeding!”, Wendy was a bit concerned, “And your cap is in pieces.”

            “It’s nothing”, he shrugged it off. His cap was, indeed, a mess. Particularly obstinate bush trapped it and held in its twigs like there was no tomorrow. By the time Dipper freed his clothing from its grab, material was torn in couple places.

            “Job done, kiddo?”, asked Stan, continuously counting profit from last visitors. Dipper noded. “Just grab one from shelves, they don’t even sell well. Oh yeah, I like it, you will be walking ad.”

            He shrugged and grabbed one with a pine tree logo. It fit well, so why not take it?

A bit later, after he ate late lunch, Dipper slumped on the couch in the living room, not even caring about all his cuts, scratches and bruises. A bit of rest was in need. But just as he made himself comfortable, Mabel barged in, cheering loudly.

            “Hai Dippy! Meet my new friend!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Dipper has some problems. Don't worry though, he will not be that unstable all the time, just needed to establish some things.  
> Not much action, again. I'm the type to write slow paced stories, so sorry about that. Next chapter will however be more action-packed.  
> Again, thanks Vee for your support (even if you didn't even had time to read this, you lazy ass :P).  
>   
> Next time: Chapter 3, Rooted in reality  
>   
> unfunnyJester out!


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